Louisville Drops Ranked Exhibition Matchup vs. Kansas

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - While the new season hasn't officially started yet, the Louisville men's basketball program's 2025-26 campaign has already ran into a bit of a speed bump.

Taking on Kansas in a preseason exhibition matchup, the No. 11 Cardinals could not overcome the No. 19 Jayhawks, falling 90-82 in the ranked showdown on Friday at the KFC Yum! Center.

Shooting, or a lack thereof, was Louisville's Achilles heel. Despite solid shot selection, they connected on just 33.3 percent of their attempts, and shot only 11-of-38 on three-point tries, as well as 29-of-39 from the free throw line. It also didn't help that ball movement was clunky at times, turning it over 20 times with just 14 assists.

Meanwhile, Kansas was simply more efficient from all areas of the court, and seemed to be much more fluid on offense. The Jayhawks hit 50.0 percent of their field goals, including 8-for-21 from deep and 26-for-33 from the charity stripe.

Ryan Conwell led the Cardinals in scoring, pouring in a team-high 26 point. J'Vonne Hadley also added 13 points and a game-high nine rebounds, while Isaac McKneely finished with 10 points as well.

In the highly-regarded true freshman point guard matchup between UofL's Mikel Browl Jr. and KU's Darryn Peterson, the latter stole the show early. Peterson scored 21 points in the first half, finishing with 26 on the night. Brown got to 10 points, but shot 2-of-25 in the process.

Louisville got off to a slow start to the ranked showdown, missing their first five shots of the game to allow Kansas to take a 9-0 lead in the first four minutes of the game. The Cardinals then countered with a 12-0 run of their own, taking a one-point lead just ahead of the second media timeout.

This proved to be their only lead of the opening period, as the Jayhawks - and specifically Peterson - took over down the stretch of the first half. After both teams opened the game shooting 4-of-11 from the field, UofL then shot 5-of-18 for the rest of the half, while KU shot 12-of-19 - including 6-of-11 on threes. Had it not been for Louisville's efforts at the free throw line, their 46-30 deficit at the half could have been much larger.

Louisville connected on their first four shot attempts after halftime, using an 8-0 run to get within nine points and seemingly get ready to make a charge back at the lead. However, the Cardinals looked disheveled for large segments of the second half.

They proceeded to shoot 8-for-30 for the rest of the game, and turned it over 13 times in the second half alone. Combine that with Kansas shooting 12-for-26 from the floor and 19-for-24 at the line after halftime, and the Cardinals - despite making it an eight-point game in the final two minutes - posed no real threat for a comeback.

Next up, Louisville will host Bucknell in their second and final exhibition matchup before the start of the regular season. Tip-off against the Bison is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 7:00 p.m. EST.

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